INDIA’S steel production fell by about 0.3 per cent to 27.33 million tonne (MT) during the first quarter of the calendar year 2019, according to data from the World Steel Association. During the January-March 2018 period, the country had produced 27.40 MT of crude steel, the data showed. In January, India had produced 9.18 MT steel, down 1.9 per cent as compared with 9.35 MT in the corresponding month of 2018.

The country in February 2019 reported a rise of 2.3 per cent to 8.74 MT as against 8.54 MT in the year-ago month. In the subsequent month, the output fell one per cent to 9.41 MT, from 9.50 MT in March 2018. In 2018, India’s annual production of crude steel had stood at 106.5 MT, up 4.9 per cent from 101.5 MT it had produced in 2017.

India is the second-largest producer of steel in the world after China, which produced 80.33 MT during January-March 2019. India has set an ambitious target of scaling up its steel production capacity to 300 MT. In May 2017, the Union Cabinet also the approved two policies, including the National Steel Policy 2017 that envisaged Rs 10 lakh crore investment to take capacity to 300 million tonne by 2030-31, to give a boost to the domestic steel sector. The World Steel Association is one of the largest industry associations in the world. Its members represent around 85 percent of the world’s steel production, including over 160 steel producers with nine of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.